Sidhu improving after ‘near fatal’ illness

Chandigarh, March 23 (IANS) Cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu has been directed by doctors to give up his hectic lifestyle following a serious medical condition, which forced him to take complete bed rest. Sidhu, who is Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) parliament member from Amritsar, was admitted to the Apollo Hospital in New Delhi March 9 after he fell unconscious near Panipat in Haryana while travelling from Punjab to Delhi and then had severe pain in the lower rib cage.

He was asked by doctors to give up his hectic lifestyle.

Sidhu has signed contracts with television news channels and family channels as commentator and TV host. These contracts are worth millions of rupees annually.

Sidhu’s political secretary R.S. Gill said the MP was recovering well after his “near fatal” medical condition and had vowed to serve the people of his Amritsar constituency.

“This episode could have been fatal and this is actually a new birth for a fine cricketer of yesteryears, a great commentator, showman and a politician of repute. The yogi in him has definitely helped him recover well in time and will soon be back into active politics,” consultant surgeon Rupinder Singh, who is attending to Sidhu, said in a statement Sunday.

Doctors diagnosed Sidhu’s present condition as a result of a right ankle fracture during his cricketing days, which had caused a blood clot in his leg vein. The clot moved to the groin and later lodged in one of the arteries of the heart.

The doctor said the clot passing through the heart led to severe chest pain to Sidhu earlier in March. However, despite strong medication, Sidhu is unable to control his coughing.

The surgeon said Sidhu, after recovering from the present condition, would have to go through physical exercises and other activities before he can resume work.

Sidhu was elected Amritsar MP in May 2004 for the first time. He resigned from the seat in 2006 following his arrest after his conviction by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a culpable homicide not amounting to murder. He later re-contested the seat and won it.